Hillary’s Doing it Wrong and You Can Do it Right in Business

Did you know that you were in sales?Please don’t groan.It’s not as bad as you think.In fact, it might make you more successful in
business.All women are in sales—whether
they think they are or they think they’re not.Selling is persuading someone to do something.Isn’t that what business is all about?All women–and men, too, have to persuade
other people to do something in order for them to do their jobs.The way Hillary Clinton is approaching her politics
and selling is all wrong for getting the results she wants.Here’s what she’s doing wrong and what you
can learn from her so you can get it right.

Go for the gut, not the brain.There’s not too much that’s new in this
world.Aristotle mastered the art of
persuasion over 2000 years ago.He said
to be persuasive you have to be credible, you need to evoke listeners’ emotions
and then you have to prove what you say.Credibility comes first.Hillary’s got that. She’s a Senator with a great deal of
intelligence.She has introduced and
cosponsored many successful bills in the U.S. Senate.That’s
credibility.Credibility is the start of
persuasion.Credibility alone is not
enough for persuasion.Credibility is
where persuasion starts, but not where it ends.That’s why she’s missing the mark.Benjamin Franklin said it best. He said, “If
you would persuade, you must appeal to interest rather than intellect.” Clinton
is going for intellect by talking about her skill and experience.Those are hardly inspirational messages. She had better start talking about hope or
vision or something that gets the listener to feel something.Do you notice how Obama is talking about
hope, and change and other emotional subjects?Clinton responds that she’s
going to make good military decisions.That’s like listening to someone read the dictionary. It makes no
emotional connection to the voters. She had better make a quick switch to more
emotional topics and images. If not, she’ll have an emotional bunch of
supporters who are crying that she lost the nomination.

First things first. How does this apply to you? Think
about how you “sell” your ideas in business.You may be focusing on results. That’s OK. Just make sure that before
you present the results, you talk about and show the benefit to the person you
are trying to persuade. Why? When people hear and see what’s in it for them,
they can start feeling emotions about what you’re proposing.Those warm feelings lead to action.It’s often said in sales that people think
with logic, but act with emotion.You
want the action.You want people to
act—to be persuaded. They will only act when their feelings tell them to act and
the logic confirms their feelings.

You’ll need persuasion to get what you want in business. If
you think facts and logic are enough to master your persuasion strategies and get
you results, forget it.It’s much easier
to persuade if you pull people’s heart strings and get them emotionally
involved in what you want them to do.You
don’t have to listen to me.If you want
proof, just ask Barak Obama. It’s working for him.